Tony Award winner Ben Vereen and Tony nominee Norm Lewis (Porgy & Bess) are among the artists who will take part in Black Stars of the Great White Way, celebrating Black History Month, Feb. 17 at the Queensborough Performing Arts Center.

Norm Lewis
Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

Joining Vereen and Lewis at the 3 PM event will be Tony nominees Keith David (Jelly's Last Jam, Hot Feet), André De Shields (The Full Monty, Play On!) and Larry Marshall (The Color Purple) as well as Tony-nominated choreographer Ted L. Levy (Jelly's Last Jam).

There will be a salute from Bubbling Brown Sugar trumpeter Longineu Parsons to Louis Armstrong and a special guest performance by Broadway's Bring In The Noise, Bring In The Funk tapper Omar A. Edwards.

Broadway choral director-arranger Chapman Roberts (Bubbling Brown Sugar, Eubie!, Blues in the Night, Five Guys Named Moe), who will co-host the event alongside Susan Agin, created Black Stars of the Great Whit Way, which will feature Broadway showstoppers that salute a parade of great entertainers in history, including Louis Jordan, Eubie Blake, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Sammy Davis Jr. and Nat King Cole.

Pianist Frank Owens will be joined on the bandstand by bassist Clyde Bullard, South African drummer Sipho Kunene, guitarist Keith Robinson, Ray Naccari, Tom Zablinger and the York College Big Band. Additionally, 14-year-old piano prodigy Julius Rodriguez will be introduced.